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“During its EU Presidency this year, Hungary will take the strongest possible action against illegal migration, especially in view of the emergence of new routes and the increasing pressure in South-Eastern Europe,” Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Athens.
Following a meeting with his Greek counterpart, Giorgos Gerapetritis, he said that the meeting reviewed the main challenges facing Europe, including one of the most critical, the increasing pressure of illegal migration.
“My colleague informed me that new routes are emerging for migration to southeast Europe, including Greece, which is facing increasing pressure and new migration routes.” This makes it even more important for Hungary to take the strongest possible action against illegal migration during the six months of its presidency of the European Union, he added.
The two ministers agreed on the importance of protecting the EU’s external borders and on the sovereign right of each country to decide who it allows in and who it wants to live with.
Péter Szijjártó stressed that Hungary and Greece are also on the same position regarding the need to prevent the security challenges affecting Europe, such as the crisis in Ukraine and the Middle East, from spreading. “Preventing escalation in both armed conflicts is a key issue for both of us,” he underlined.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister also met with the Greek, Bulgarian, and Romanian Ministers of Energy, and pointed out that in the current situation, security of energy supply is a key issue, and it is important to attract new sources and routes of supply, and in this respect Greece will be an inevitable transit state for Hungary’s gas supply.
He welcomed the fact that the capacity of the natural gas pipeline linking Bulgaria to Greece will be increased from three to five billion cubic-meters next year, so that Greek LNG ports could also be part of the picture.
“We have had a successful visit to Greece, new energy routes for the security of our energy supply have been established and we have strengthened our cooperation with Athens on issues of important security issues for Hungary,” he concluded.
Via MTI; Featured Image: Facebook / Szijjártó Péter